Page 99

Will pulled a small red plastic case from his knapsack. He popped it open and rummaged through the medical supplies: disinfectant pads, gauze, bandages.

‘Let me do that.’ Nico took the kit from Will.

While the troglodytes kept watch, Nico disinfected his hands, then cleaned out each of Will’s cuts and scrapes, the way Will had taught him to do after the war with Gaia. He found a small gash on the back of his boyfriend’s right leg, then some swelling on his left elbow. Will winced and jerked away when Nico touched the area.

Nico applied some antibacterial salve on the deeper cuts and wrapped them with gauze. He made a sling to hold Will’s elbow stationary for the time being. When he was finished, Will looked like he had got in a fistfight with a hurricane.

‘You did really good,’ said Will, inspecting the bandages. ‘Thanks.’

‘I had a good teacher.’ Nico sat back. ‘But you don’t seem to be as healing as fast as usual. Should I be worried?’

Will shook his head. ‘I sort of expected that my healing abilities would be diminished down here. These are just scrapes and cuts. I’ll be fine.’

But would he? Theystillweren’t in Tartarus yet, and quite literally everything down there would be worse than up here in theUnderworld. Nico felt trapped between his concern for his boyfriend and the urgency of their quest. Maybe this was yet another reason why going on a quest without three demigods was a bad, bad idea. Had they been doomed from the start?

Nico helped Will up as Screech-Bling – now completely recovered – packed up his SPF supplies and Hiss-Majesty jumped around them excitedly. ‘We are very close!’ they said. ‘I cannot wait for you to see the shortcut!’

Nico wanted to grumble about how verylongthis journey to the shortcut had been, but he kept his thoughts to himself. Will started off limping, but within a few minutes he was more limber. He looped his free arm around Nico’s shoulders, hobbling slower than Nico wanted to be moving, but Nico also appreciated the closeness.

We’re going to get through this,he told himself. He had to believe it.

The climb up the next ridge was tougher. All Nico’s adrenalin from the drakon fight was gone. A dull soreness seeped into his muscles. Halfway up, Will was huffing and puffing so badly they decided to rest while Nico pulled out the sun-therapy globe. Naturally, the batteries were starting to die and, judging from the waxy sheen of sweat on Will’s face, his internal batteries were dying, too. While still standing, Will put his hands on the back of his head so he could breathe more deeply.

Nico struggled to put new batteries in the globe. He dropped one, which rolled merrily down the hill.

‘Oh, comeon,’ he muttered.

‘Just grab another,’ said Will. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

Nico wasn’t sure they would find any extra triple-A batteries for sale in Tartarus, but he fished another from Will’s pack. Once the globe was glowing at full strength, he handed it to Will.

‘Thanks, Nico.’ He sounded … defeated.

At the crest of the hill, Will sat to rest, and Nico noticed a dark red stain spreading across his boyfriend’s midsection.

‘Will …’ Nico tried to keep the fear out of his voice. ‘What happened there?’

Will looked down at his gut and frowned. ‘I … I don’t know. That can’t be right.’

Unfortunately, the wound was very real. When Will lifted his shirt, the long red curve across his abdomen looked like someone had tried to draw a frowny face there with a razor. Nico cleaned and dressed the wound, but his fingers wouldn’t stop trembling. Maybe the cut had happened when Will fell down the hill, or before that, in Persephone’s garden, or as they passed through the orchard of Menoetes. But Nico couldn’t shake the feeling that the wound had simplyopened, as if Will’s body was unravelling from the inside under the stress of being in the Underworld.

As Nico wrapped Will’s abdomen in gauze, he noticed that Will’s other wounds were all bleeding through their bandages. Children of Apollo were usually even quicker to recuperate than most other demigods. Something wasdeeplywrong if Will’s wounds weren’t closing.

‘Hey.’ Will’s hand touched his face. ‘You’re worried. Upset. I get it. But I’ll be fine.’

Nico frowned. ‘You’renotfine. Your cuts … This shouldn’t be happening.’

Will sighed. ‘We knew it was a risk for me to come here.’

‘But we haven’t even –’

‘Got to Tartarus yet,’ Will finished. ‘I know. But I’m tougher than you think.’

He leaned against Nico’s shoulder. ‘I’ll just keep up a steady regimen of nectar and ambrosia. You’ll keep the wounds clean. Maybe I can rest here a second before we continue.’

‘Demigods!’ Screech-Bling shouted from the other side of the summit. ‘You can see it from here – the next step in your journey!’

Nico kissed the top of Will’s head. ‘Be right back.’